Danielle Isbell of Woodinville qualified for the fall 2014 dean’s list at Belmont University. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a quality grade point average of 3.5 with no grade below a C. Approximately 30 percent of Belmont’s 7,300 students qualified for the fall 2014 dean’s list.

GRADUATION

The following local students were awarded diplomas from Arizona State University:

The Maywood Hills Elementary School FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics team, The Atomic 7, won the Presentation Award at the FLL state qualifier competition held Dec. 13 at Shoreline Community College.

The award recognizes a team that effectively communicates the problem they have identified and their proposed solution. This year’s challenge was “How can you improve the way someone learns?” The team decided to find an innovative and effective way to teach students how the human ear works and the brain hears. The students created a well-designed autonomous EV3 robot that navigated around the challenge mat using four input sensors from the computer program they wrote for the robot to respond to each input.

Part of Washington FIRST Robotics, FIRST LEGO League is a robotics competition developed for school-age children. Washington FIRST Robotics was started to partner with, promote and enhance the mission of the national FIRST organization in the state of Washington. The group’s mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders. The FLL competitions have three main components: project, robot design and core values.

At the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country nationals, held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Dec. 13, 13-year-old Luke Houser of Woodinville earned several awards. Houser placed seventh in the field of 405 runners in the 13-14 boys age group, and led his team to a second place award out of 37 teams from across the nation. This was Houser’s fourth trip to JO nationals, his fourth time placing All-American in the top 25 finishers and his second team award.

GRADUATION

Andy MacKay of Woodinville graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor of general studies in English with a minor in journalism.

CLEARVIEW – Snohomish County Fire District 7 staff and firefighters adopted 17 local families, including 55 children, this holiday season.

Each fire station assisted two to three families in need, providing gifts for the children. For the first time, Albertsons served as a collection site for the community to donate to the gift drive.

“The donations from the community at the Albertsons’ stores helped us reach more families than in past years,” explained Lieutenant Joe Basta, who organizes the annual gift drive. “We were able to donate many presents to the Christmas House in addition to the families we assisted in Fire District 7.”

For more information on the Christmas House, visit www.christmashouse.org. For more information on Snohomish County Fire District 7, visit www.firedistrict7.com.

Washington State Department of Revenue Agent Lisa Beauchamp and Property Acquisition Specialist Ole Hoiby of the Revenue Bothell Field Office both won agency 2014 Employee Recognition Awards (ERA). Beauchamp earned the ERA for Leadership, while Hoiby won the award for Outreach and Inclusion.